


Chasing the Sun

by RandomWritings23



Category: OMORI (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Runaway AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 12:14:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28920393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomWritings23/pseuds/RandomWritings23
Summary: It's been a month since Mari's death, and Sunny and Basil are nowhere to be found.Somewhere, two kids do what they can to survive, haunted by their actions.Somewhere else, three kids search for the truth.
Relationships: Aubrey & Basil & Hero & Kel & Mari & Sunny (OMORI), Aubrey & Basil & Hero & Kel & Sunny (OMORI), Basil & Sunny (OMORI), Basil/Sunny (OMORI), Hero & Kel & Aubrey (OMORI), Hero & Mari (OMORI), Hero/Mari (OMORI)
Comments: 39
Kudos: 478





	1. the spaces in-between

**Author's Note:**

> MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR OMORI!
> 
> I’d like to begin this by giving a massive shoutout to @bhomaas on twitter for creating this AU and for giving me permission to write this fic! I’ve been absolutely obsessed with OMORI since I finished my playthrough not too long ago, and this AU is so very interesting that I just had to write something for it.  
> Trigger warnings for canon-typical horror and violence, I’ll add extra tws if requested or if anything pops up while I’m writing. I highly recommend reading through OP’s thread about the AU before reading this fic!
> 
> This is also my first ever fic for OMORI, and my first ever post to AO3! Hopefully it's good!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunny and Basil leave Faraway Town.
> 
> Hero thinks about the state of his group of friends.

Sunny is used to this noise. It fills his mind whenever he isn’t occupied, and it sounds like the dull whir of an air conditioner, or the quiet noise of a TV that isn’t tuned to any channel. He feels the bus seat beneath him slowly melt away into the cold floor of his headspace. Just like that, the world around him has vanished.

WELCOME TO WHITE SPACE.

YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE. 

OMORI is laying down on his back, in the center of his picnic blanket. The black lightbulb burns overhead, suspended by… something, somewhere. He didn’t know what, and it didn’t matter, so he didn’t care. Omori sits up and reaches for his laptop, placing it on his lap before booting it. 

For a second, he simply sits and stares at the screen. The desktop background was still that strange white set of bricks, even if he never set it to that. The only icons on screen were still the trash and his calendar, but there were never any files to delete. He opens the calendar, and finds it the same as he left it. 

“I spent time alone today. Everything was okay.”  
“I spent time with BASIL today. Everything was okay.”  
“I played with MEWO today. Everything was okay.”

A whole month spent doing only one of three things daily. If he had to be honest, OMORI would tell you he didn’t actually like White Space that much. Everything felt self-defeating, and there was never anything to do. Nothing ever changed here in White Space, it was always just the same sanitized white void. However, a safe place to stay was always nice, and White Space was that exactly. At least in here, the world would only shift to his whims.

He turned off the laptop, placing it back to the side, before standing up and picking up MEWO. He cradled the small, black cat gently in his arms, walking off the picnic blanket and into the strange, endless void. Small, squirming red hands surrounded him slowly, but that was to be expected. OMORI knew how White Space worked like the back of his hand by now. They wouldn’t hurt him, never on purpose, and they especially wouldn’t hurt MEWO.  


He closed his eyes and waited.

“Sunny?” He felt a hand on his shoulder, gently shaking him out of his reverie. “This is our stop. I’m sorry I woke you up, but we should go so we don’t get lost…” It was Basil. His best friend, and only companion. He'd recognize that voice anywhere. 

Sunny knew he should reply, but every time he opened his mouth to speak, he felt like something had grabbed him by the throat. It was okay, because he was content just to nod. He stood up and put his backpack back on, before following Basil. He could hear the steak knife and coins jingling against one another as he walked down the bus steps, before hopping to the ground.

It had been about a month since Mari had died. At least, if the calendars in the gas stations had been accurate. Sunny still wouldn’t let himself think about it, and he especially couldn’t bear to look in the mirror. There was one time he got a small cut from a tree branch, and when he had gone to clean it in the bathroom - he could swear he saw something or someone else towering over him.

Basil was waving to him from a small distance away as the bus pulled away. He’d spaced out again, even in just that long. If this kept up, it could - would - turn into a problem for the both of them. Having Basil with him was actually a massive relief for Sunny. If he hadn’t been there, Sunny could just let the world melt away forever… Basil grounded him to reality, for better or worse.

Sunny ran to Basil’s side, taking the other's hand in his own.  
“The next rest stop isn’t for another few miles… I’m sure we’ll make it before too long, though! It’s a good thing the sun is still up for another couple hours. Is there anything you need to do before we go?”  
Sunny shook his head ‘no’ and gave Basil’s hand a small squeeze. The two set out, walking down the road, off to find their next place to stay. 

About two hours later, Sunny had stopped to rest. They sat along the side of the street, looking out at the greenery nearby. The gravel was uncomfortable at best. Sunny spotted a small berry bush, and went to pick a handful of the small, black berries. It was always nice to find a snack in an unexpected place, even if it was from some strange, damp grove in the woods.

He returned to Basil, extending the hand with the berries in it so he could take some for himself. Basil reacted with shock first, then fear.  
“You haven’t eaten any of these yet, right, Sunny?” He’d asked, quietly. Sunny replied by shaking his head ‘no.’ “Oh, good… We probably shouldn’t eat these, haha…”  
When Sunny only cocked his head in confusion, Basil continued.  
“These berries are the same color as poisonous nightshade, is all. Since you found them over there in the treeline, these might not be safe to eat. Sorry, Sunny… I know we haven’t had any food in a while. Oh, that reminds me, though…” Basil brought his bag over his shoulder, before digging inside. Sunny, in the meantime, disposed of the handful of nightshade.

“It’s not very much, but… I have a little bit of a granola bar left from the other day, if you’d want the rest of that.” Basil held it out for Sunny to take. “I wrapped it up in the packaging so it wouldn’t get dirty, just in case.”  
Sunny tentatively took the bar, unwrapped it, and took a bite. He wanted to split it, but there was already so little left, it’d be a waste. Basil didn’t look sad at all about giving away the last little bit of food they had, despite the circumstances. Just… worried.

Sunny finished eating and stuffed the wrapper in his pocket, before standing up and holding a hand out to Basil.  
“Y-Yeah, we should keep moving. Don’t worry about me, I can always pick something up once we find a little more money.” Basil smiles, taking Sunny’s hand and rising to his feet. “For now, let’s just focus on what’s up ahead for the both of us.”  
The two began down the road again, watching the sun slowly dip below the horizon.

It had been one month since Mari’s death. It had been one month since Sunny and Basil’s disappearance. It felt like Aubrey hadn’t slept a day since. Mostly, because she hadn’t. She hadn’t gotten a single peaceful night’s rest since her friends had vanished. She’d sleep, sure, but never for very long, or very well. Until she knew her friends were safe, she wouldn’t rest.

Hero wasn’t coping well, either. When he wasn’t out searching for Basil and Sunny with Aubrey and Kel, he was either throwing himself into his studies with reckless abandon or sleeping the day away.

Kel wouldn’t let himself believe his friends were gone. Instead, he forced himself to keep searching with the others. Giving up isn’t something he’d let cross his mind, because if it did, they’d all feel horrible.

And so, the three of them kept looking, each for their own reasons.

There was one thing in particular that kept rattling around in Hero’s mind, though…

Why would Mari hang herself with a jump-rope? And why one of Sunny’s?  
It just didn’t make sense. What did Sunny have to do with this, besides that he was her brother? What did Basil and Sunny do to deserve this? Where did they go?  
Hero kept thinking, deliberating over all these questions, day in and day out for a whole month, and he never got any closer to the truth. It was just so heartbreaking… Why did all this happen to them? Why them?

They couldn't afford to give up. Not with so much at stake. Not now and not ever. 


	2. by your side.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basil and Sunny make the most of a busy day turned awry. Aubrey, Kel, and Hero dig up some old memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so very much for the glowing reception that Chapter 1 got!!! I never expected something I wrote to bring so many people so much joy. I can’t wait to keep this story going, and the goal is to keep it at around one chapter a week! If I ever need extra time or can’t get a chapter out for whatever reason, you can always find me at @urpalvenus on Twitter! I hope Chapter 2 lives up to the hype!
> 
> One thing I do wanna explore at some point with this fic is that Sunny is canonically REALLY smart and disciplined. Omori is still a facet of himself, acting as the version of himself that doesn’t really need to hold back from violent impulses, which is why his skills in the real world are all along the lines of “Calm Down” and “Endure,” vs. the Dream World’s violent and unsettling knife skills. Something to mull over for future chapters, maybe.

Kel’s basketball collided with the pavement at about a mile a minute as he prepared his shot. Faraway Town may have had it’s many attractions, but one of the best parts was that there’d always be plenty to do. Whether it was delivering pizzas, picking up trash, practicing sports, anything! It helped him keep his mind off of… other things, plus he’d need the practice for the future, so it was a net positive overall!

He ran up to the hoop, leapt, annnd… Swish!

Hero and Aubrey walked over to his side, Hero clapping for his brother the whole way. “Great shot, Kel! I can tell you’re getting better with practice. You’ll be part of the team before you know it.”

Kel wiped a line of sweat from his brow, before giving Hero a great big smile. “That’s what all the practice is for! It won’t be easy, but I’m sure I’ve got what it takes!”

“How long have you been practicing for today, Kel?” Aubrey questioned, holding her stuffed toy, Mr. Plantegg, close. “You smell bad.”

“Well yeah! I’ve been practicing out here like, all day!” Kel retorted, running to grab his plastic ball before it bounced away.

“You’re not even practicing with a real basketball!” Aubrey smiled mockingly.

“Alright, you two, calm down…” Hero grinned, a defeated look on his face. “I thought of something we can do today a while ago, which is why I came to get you two so late.”

“Well, what’s up, Hero?” Kel cocked an eyebrow at his brother. Hero hadn’t been one to take charge like that since… a month ago.

“Well, I talked to Polly earlier, and she said that she wants to put up some missing posters outside of Faraway Town. She put some up with general descriptions of Sunny and Basil around the park and at Hobbeez a few weeks ago, but she hasn’t gotten any calls about them yet, so she wants to branch out some more.”

“That sounds like a good idea! Where do we come in, though?” Aubrey asked.

“Well, she said she hasn’t been able to find Basil’s photo album anywhere, and she needs pictures of him and Sunny for the posters. She needs us to see if we can find any pictures of them around that we could use.”

“There should be some of Sunny hanging up in his house… finding one of Basil might be a little harder, though.” Kel added. “Since he was always taking so many pictures of us, there weren’t very many of him.” The only pictures he could remember that they had of Basil were taken by Mari, and mentioning that was off the table.

“That’s the hard part…” Hero scratched the back of his neck, looking down at his brother. “But I’m sure we’ll find some! There’s no way that every photo of Basil ever taken could just up and vanish like that, right?”

“So, are we gonna go to Sunny’s house first, then? It might be a little hard to get in unless his mom’s home...” Aubrey's emotions had begun to betray her. Doubt slowly crept across her features. After all, if they couldn’t get into Sunny’s house, and couldn’t find a picture of Basil… Then what was all that work for?

“I think that’d be a good place to start, sure. Since it’s gonna be dark in an hour or so, we should go quick.” Hero looked up at the sky over the park. The dim orange sunset glowed over the trees, signaling that the end of the day was fast approaching. “I hope they’re safe out there, wherever they are… Let’s get going, guys.”

“Hey, Sunny! I see the rest stop, it’s just over there!” Basil pointed out towards a small, brick building with benches out front. “Thank goodness… My feet hurt from walking for so long, haha.”

Sunny followed close behind Basil, practically tethered to him by their hands. He didn’t mind at all, of course - Basil’s company was very much preferred to his absence. There weren’t many cars in the parking lot of the stop, or actually… any at all. Thankfully, that meant the place would be empty, so they’d be free to bunker down for the night.

Sunny walked up to the front door of the rest stop and pushed. When it didn’t open, he tried pulling it. Still, it did not open. He pushed and pushed until the door rattled on it's hinges, and still, it did not move. 

“Oh… I think they’re closed, Sunny.” Basil looked at Sunny with growing fear in his eyes. “I-I’m sorry… I really had no idea. What should we do? I don’t think it’s very safe to stay out overnight in a place like this...”

This was going to be… bad. This was really, really bad. If they couldn’t find somewhere else, and soon, they’d be stuck out in the wilderness all night. They'd done it before, sure, but if they kept playing their cards like this... Sunny rattled the door again, feeling his breathing begin to quicken. Bad. Bad, bad, bad, this was definitely going to be bad. Not because of any people or animals, but because of the things that always followed them, _pretending_ to be people or animals. 

...But they didn’t get this far by panicking every time something didn’t go their way. Sunny grounded himself, holding Basil’s hand tight. Deep breaths, in and out, just like she had taught him. There was still about an hour left until the sun went down. They could still have time to find somewhere else to stay. Right.

Sunny looked out to the road behind them, finding that it stretched out into the horizon almost endlessly. If they kept walking all night, they could probably be in another town by sunrise, but they’d need to crash all day, and becoming nocturnal might not exactly suit Basil all too well. The best choices they’d have would either be to smash a window and risk setting off a security alarm, or make a small fire in the woods and hope they weren’t seen by any passerby. Smashing a window could be too risky, though.

After all, they needed to get lucky every time, and anyone looking for them, including maybe even the police by now, would only need to be lucky once.

Sunny took off towards the treeline for the second time today, keeping Basil in arm’s reach behind him. Basil had opened his mouth to speak, but knowing he wouldn’t get a particularly conclusive response, decided instead to just keep pace, trusting that Sunny wouldn’t lead him astray.

Sunny knew they were taking lots of risks in going through with their plan to run away, especially once Basil told him about how he’d had to brush off Polly’s questions when they were packing. Just one month in, and he was already having second thoughts. He couldn’t entertain them, though. Basil was depending on him.

That’s all that’s important right now. Just Sunny and Basil. Remain focused. 

Hero knocked at the front door of Sunny’s house for the fourth consecutive time. It had been fifteen minutes, and they still hadn’t gotten an answer. It would have been unsettling if it wasn’t so sad. Aubrey was leaning against the wall with tears stinging at the corners of her eyes, and Kel had run off, saying he was going to “go try something.”

This was the most defeated he’d felt all month. This was their one chance to finally take a substantial step towards having Basil and Sunny back in their lives, and they were about to let it slip through their fingers. It’s not like they had any other option, though! It was all so blatantly unfair to them from the very start! They didn’t even know if the two ran away or were kidnapped or killed or anything! Just thinking about it made him want to grit his teeth in agitation, but he wouldn’t let himself.

Just as much as these thoughts angered him, they opened a deep pit in his stomach, and the larger that pit, the more depressed Hero became. What if they had run away? They had been gone since before they found Mari, so… If Sunny was the first to discover his own sister like that… He couldn’t even begin to imagine how that must have made him feel. But that doesn’t explain Basil’s disappearance for any other reason that the two were close friends, and Basil wouldn’t be the type to make a thoughtless impulse decision like that… Not when Polly and his grandmother needed him so much, at least.

Hero sat down against the wall, next to Aubrey, before holding his head in his hands. He was supposed to be the rock for Kel to lean on. He was supposed to be these people’s support. How could he force himself to keep smiling when two of the most important people in his life just up and vanished without a trace?

Hero sucked in a deep breath. Take that time to grieve, then get back to it. It was something he’d found himself thinking over the last week, and it kept him out of bed longer than if he just sat and wallowed in his own misery. He sighed, and took another breath.

Hero blinked as he stood up, looking to Aubrey, who was still by his side. He hated seeing his friends torn up like this, even more than he hated being torn up himself.

“You’re thinking about them too, aren’t you?” The words tumbled out clumsily as he tried to compose himself. Putting that smile back on takes a second or two, after all. “Hard to believe it’s been a full month without them already…"

“I’m worried about Sunny… I mean, we don’t even know if he knows that Mari’s gone or not…” Aubrey switched between blinking and wiping away her tears. “What if we find him just to make everything worse?”

Hero… hadn’t considered that. Sunny and Basil… may not even know what had happened later that day. What if Sunny’s disappearance was part of what drove Mari to do that to herself…? When they didn’t even have a proper way to order the events of that night chronologically, it made it impossible to understand their situation inside and out.

“Try to think of it like this, Aubrey. Once we find them, we’ll know they’re safe. We don’t need to tell them about everything right away. The first step should be just getting them home safe, right?” Hero’s smile was reassuring. He knew it was, because he’d practiced it until it was. “One thing people say when they think about something scary is that your mind can always think of things that are a lot worse than reality. I think that as long as we depend on each other, we’ll be okay.”

Aubrey’s sleeves were wet with tears as she wiped away at her puffy, red eyes. She didn’t have any time to reply, however, as the front door’s handle began to rattle, until it slowly opened. Inside was Kel with a wide smile on his face, and even more importantly, two photos in his hand.

“Kel… did you just break into Sunny’s house?” Hero’s eyes were wide with exasperation.

“Nope! I broke into _our_ old treehouse. And since Sunny always left the glass door in the back unlocked, I figured, might as well, right?” Kel raised the photos up for the other two to see. “I thought I remembered something about the treehouse and Basil's pictures, and I was right!”

“I really don’t know how to feel about the fact that I’m saying this right now, but thank you for breaking into Sunny’s house, Kel.” Hero grinned in defeat, knowing that despite Kel’s intentions, this was still absolutely wrong of them to do.

“Just think of how happy Polly will be when she sees these!” Aubrey smiled earnestly, wiping the last of the tears from her eyes. “It feels like it’s been so long since we’ve seen them…”

Kel handed the photos to Hero, who held them out for Aubrey to see. One was a photo of Sunny playing his violin, the one Basil had taken on Christmas. The second was a photo of Basil holding a book up for Sunny to read, the two frozen in joyous conversation.

There was only one person who could have taken the second picture. They all knew that. Nobody dared mention it.

“Thank you, Kel. We might be a lot closer to them than we thought.” Hero smiled. “I think these are photos from Basil’s album… I wonder what they were doing at Sunny’s all this time.”

“Basil and Sunny were really close! He probably came over to visit more than anyone else, and just left them behind. We should return them once we get everybody back together!” The redness slowly began to leave Aubrey’s face, replaced with joy. “We should go talk to Polly! She’ll be really happy that we found these.”

“Well, we’re burning daylight, everyone. Let’s get going before it gets dark, alright?” Hero carefully slid the photos into his pocket, before leading the way back to Polly’s. It was a good thing he went to get the others after all - or they’d still be right where they started. 

Sunny slowed to a stop within the treeline just minutes after he’d taken off with Basil in tow. The thicket cleared out faster than he’d really have liked, revealing a small, empty plot of grass. They might get seen all the way out here if anyone else happened to be stumbling through the treeline, but that wasn’t exactly common outside of their scenario, and it wasn’t like Sunny hadn’t stabbed anyone before to keep them safe.

He walked out into the center of the field, and Basil soon followed, keeping a careful eye on each of Sunny’s smallest movements. Sunny fell to his knees and slowly sank down to lay on his back, staring at the orange, cloudy sky. Basil sat down by his head, gently swaying with the wind. Sunny’s heavy breathing from a busy day slowly returned to normal as he could feel his eyelids grow heavy. It wouldn’t be sundown for too much longer… He felt that he’d be fine to doze off just a little early.

The last thing Sunny saw that day before falling into another blissful dream was Basil, smiling warmly down at him. For just that moment, Sunny felt the tightness around his throat gently fall slack. 

Basil wondered if he had seen it too - the figure watching them, hiding between the trees, and wearing his sister's face. 


	3. glade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somewhere deep inside Headspace, BASIL and OMORI face their fears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter that took a long time to put out! This one was hard to pin down. Hopefully it shows that I put a lot of thought into it! Thanks to @bhomaas for beta-reading this one to make sure everything works in the AU’s continuity, too! 
> 
> I’m not very happy with how this one came out, but I’ll make up for it in the next couple chapters. :)

OMORI missed blankets. He missed the feeling of a warm pillow under his head when he fell asleep. The picnic blanket sufficed a bit, sure, but he couldn’t exactly pull that up off the floor. He’d considered using MEWO as a pillow, but he didn’t know how the cat would react, and didn’t want to risk getting his face clawed off.

He wondered if he’d been cursed to be stuck here, or if he had done something that warranted his entrapment within this place. If he had, then BASIL certainly had too, considering how often he visited. How he arrived and how he left, OMORI could never tell, but he always wandered in from the white expanse and returned to it all the same.

He couldn’t recall ever particularly missing BASIL’s company. Unless that’s what he was doing now, by thinking of him. In retrospect, he’d never really thought about it before.

There was a lot about BASIL he didn’t know. Whether that was good or bad, he couldn’t quite tell. OMORI still wanted to know more, even if it would only hurt him.

Footsteps slowly emanated from somewhere in White Space. OMORI opened his eyes and stood up before they could reach him.

“Ah… Were you asleep, OMORI? I hope I didn’t wake you up…” BASIL gave his familiar warm, uncertain smile. “It must get pretty lonely in here with nobody but MEWO to keep you company.”

OMORI nodded, looking at him silently. Over BASIL’s shoulder, he could see a pale, white door had appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

“It doesn’t seem like much has really changed around here since last time, huh? I don’t think that door was there when I last visited, though… Do you want to open it, OMORI?”

OMORI walked slowly and carefully to the door, in seemingly measured strides. Change in White Space was uncommon and unfamiliar, and therefore dangerous. He slowly reached out and placed his hand on the door handle as BASIL followed close behind.

He twisted the handle slowly, until the door opened a crack. He peered inside. He saw a bright white eye in a sea of endless black staring back at him.  
He tried to slam the door shut. He wanted to slam the door shut. He couldn’t slam the door shut.

Only open it wider. 

OMORI had flung open the white door, and within seconds, he had been consumed in the sea of black and red. The dim light of White Space he could see off in the distance acted as a spotlight. He could see BASIL clawing away, black and red hands around his ankles, slowly tearing him from peace into the same vast chaos he had become a part of.

OMORI was afraid. BASIL was afraid.

He was falling. OMORI was alone and he was falling. Eyes surrounded him, countless bright white lights all locked on his frenzied descent. Looking down, he saw a vast pit of writhing red hands, just waiting to catch him. He was entirely defenseless to stop whatever fate would befall him in this void.

It wasn’t being caught that hurt. It was the choking. He could feel bile rise to his throat before being crushed back into his stomach. His vision was already limited in this darkness, and it only got worse with less oxygen. He could feel his temples pounding, begging him to escape.

He raised his arms to claw away at whatever held him, and found that whatever it was, it was merely wire-thin, laced around his neck by the thousands. Something resembling black hair mixed with the bloody smears of countless hands to form some kind of disgusting noose around his neck, slowly growing tighter by the second.

White Space had not prepared him for this. Nothing could have. Was this really how his life was going to ebb away? Was this all that was meant for him? To die at the hands of… this? That would be such an unsatisfying end to a journey that hadn’t even begun…

“Wow… This is all a lot to handle, isn’t it, OMORI?” A woman’s voice broke through the hazy noise. “Please remember… you’ve come so far to get to where you are now. You just need to reach out. Give them all the chance, and just maybe… A lot will change, faster than you might think.”

He pulled away one of the countless tendrils of hair. Just enough to suck in a breath.

OMORI slowly remembered how to UNDERSTAND. 

Slowly, he could feel air re-entering his lungs as he reached towards his neck again and found nothing there. The eyes lining the vast chasm slowly closed, and slowly, the black walls eroded away into White Space.

OMORI fell to his knees and tucked himself into a fetal position on the floor next to MEWO. He could only hug his cat close and cry. 

BASIL felt the warmth of carpet beneath his feet as he took uncertain steps deeper and deeper into the blackness. Ordinarily, perhaps that would have brought him comfort. The plaid, checker-patterned floor, however, made him sick to his stomach. He felt his heart leap into his throat. “Please help… Someone, anyone, this can’t be real…” He spoke quietly, like the words wouldn’t dare escape him.

He could feel the eyes, somewhere. He couldn’t see them, but he knew someone was accusing him of doing something horrible. He knew they were right.

He started running. It would not spare him the persecution. His mind repeated, “Escape. Escape. Escape,” yet with every step, no escape came.

“Where are you, OMORI? Please come back...” Running towards a light in the darkness, BASIL continued to stammer apologies and refutations and anything that might spare him the guilt.

A light pierced the blackness, so far away that he almost didn’t see it. It was OMORI. He’d finally found him. BASIL charged onward, tears streaking down his face. His bounds had become far stronger, or maybe OMORI wasn’t as far away as he’d thought, but he reached the other boy in a matter of seconds.

BASIL leapt forward into an exhausted embrace, before passing directly through OMORI and falling downwards, deeper and deeper, into an abyss. It was never OMORI.

He turned around as he fell, and found that it had been MARI from the beginning. 

Basil woke up and found that Sunny was already awake. It was still the middle of the night, so assumedly, neither of them exactly slept well. He was just standing there, looking at the stars, a few feet ahead of where Basil had lain.

Crickets chirped idly as the stars glimmered above, the forest surrounding them all but melting away into the skyline.

Something fell from Sunny’s face. Something wet that stained the grass between his feet. Basil stirred, crossing his legs and looking up at his companion, eyes wide.

Sunny made a noise that sounded like he’d been choking when he turned around. He hissed, in a way that a voice only does after a very, very long period of disuse. 

“Basil, can we talk?”


	4. trees...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basil and Sunny finish their short break from running, and cherish every moment, together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for being so patient and showing support for this fic, everyone! This chapter’s bound to be an interesting one, so hopefully I can really nail all the points I wish to. I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> And yes, Sunny is no longer the silent "protagonist!" I'll be doing my utmost to characterize him in a way that's canon-adjacent, at the very least.

Basil’s eyes shot wide open, staring up at his best friend from the grass below. Sunny just… spoke. After an entire month of silence and little more in the way of communication than an occasional nod or a shake of the head, Sunny just up and decided to speak again. He never talked much, even when Mari was still around, so hearing his voice at a time like this just felt otherworldly. 

Sunny’s voice was quiet, as expected. It was a voice that Basil had learned to pay special and close attention to over the years, hanging off every word, because each one was important to him. His voice came out between choked sobs, standing before the skyline. 

“What’s wrong, Sunny? W-what happened?” Concern slowly spread across Basil’s face, for a variety of reasons. “Your voice sounds all scratchy… Is everything okay?”

Sunny returned to Basil’s side, wiping the remaining tears from his eyes and sitting down. “Bad dream... very bad dream. That’s all it was,” Sunny stared down at the grass beneath his feet. “Just a bad dream.” 

“That makes two of us, then, huh…” Basil let out a quiet, tired laugh as he let himself fall back into the grass. Dandelions in various states of bloom spread to make room for him. “Is that why you started talking again?”

Sunny nodded, not entirely confident in himself just yet. He plucked a dandelion that rested by Basil’s head, blowing away the seeds in one breath. Basil wondered if he knew that you were supposed to make a wish whenever you did that. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Basil asked, looking out at the stars. “It used to be that you would be the one asking me that all the time, haha…”

“...It’s a long story.” While that was technically the truth, it also hid something bigger, and they both knew it.

“M-Maybe some other time, then…” That was fine, of course. Some wounds just take… a longer time to heal, or even don’t heal at all! It would be alright. Even if it put up a wall between Basil and Sunny when there were already so many there, that… was fine. 

Sunny fell to the grass beside Basil, first on his side, then to his back. “Sorry.”

A long silence hung between the two of them for longer than either bothered to keep track of. If it hadn’t been for their slight stirring, they could have mistaken each other for having fallen back asleep. 

It was only broken when Sunny pointed a finger up to the sky. “See that cluster of stars over there? That’s the big dipper. And that one over there,” he’d moved his hand higher up, “...is the little dipper.” 

“You pointed those ones out first last time, too! Are they just the easiest to find?” Basil asked quietly, happy to have broken the awkward silence between them. 

“Mmm… they can all be pretty easy or hard to find, depending on the day.” Sunny liked focusing on easy topics like this, especially since the stars were something he actually quite liked - they signalled when it was time to prepare for bed, and he liked learning more about astrology, even if he never took it too seriously. It was easy to keep a quiet conversation going if it was about something inoffensive like this. Speaking of, actually…

“When’s your birthday again?” Sunny asked, as if he didn’t just completely change topics.

“Uh… February 18th. Yours is on July 20th, wasn’t it?” 

“Yes, it was. I’m surprised you remembered. So you would be an Aquarius and I would be a Cancer.” 

Well, that caught Basil by surprise. “Do you have the astrological signs’ dates memorized, Sunny?”

“...Maybe. I had an astrology phase when I was little. Blame Captain Spaceboy.” 

The two continued their conversation, spotting stars and drifting cloud formations in the night sky as they awaited the turning of the next day. They’d need to be on the move again, from day’s start to day’s end… Sunny made a mental note to cherish every minute he had like this.


	5. let's get together now!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back in Faraway Town, Hero, Kel, and Aubrey race to Polly’s to share the good news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to Hero, Aubrey, and Kel! Despite how I expected Hero to be the hardest to write, he’s actually proven to be my favorite of the three to write from the perspective of. Something about Aubrey and Kel just makes it harder to get in their heads for me, I guess ^^;
> 
> Hopefully the next few chapters will end up being longer than Chapter 4. I want to make this the best it can be overall, but I’d also like it to be a pretty long and fulfilling read by the end. At the same time, I don't wanna sacrifice quality for length though... I'm facing the struggle of finding a balance.
> 
> After writing-note: Like, the entire second half of this chapter was written without any editing so if it reads weirdly thats why lol i hope its good anyway!! :O i HAVE to stop writing half the chapter on the last day of the week its not a good practice.

Hero knocked at the front door to Basil’s house once, then twice, and waited. A small smile found it’s way across his face as he felt the photos shift in his pocket. Kel and Aubrey stood close behind him, happily anticipating the chance to deliver some good news for the first time this month. 

After a short moment, the door opened, and out came Polly. She held in her eyes a look of anxiety, as though anticipating that they’d come up with nothing. 

“Hello, everyone. Hero, I hadn’t expected you to bring your friends along.” She smiled, stepping to the side. “Why don’t you all come in? I don’t want to keep you long, since it’s already getting dark…”

“It’s nothing to worry about, Polly!” Hero grinned. “Our houses are all close by, and I don’t think mom will get all that mad if Kel and I are just a few minutes late.” 

“Yeah! Plus, we have good news that can’t wait for tomorrow!” Kel joined his brother in grinning, shoving down the impulse to dig around in Hero’s pocket for the photos. 

In an instant, it looked as though they’d lifted the weight of the world off Polly’s shoulders. “Then, that means…”

“Yep!” Hero took the photos out of his pocket, handing them over. “We were lucky to find these… You can thank Kel for it, too. We wouldn’t have found anything if it wasn’t for him!” 

Polly let out a long sigh of relief. She reached for words to say, but couldn’t quite find any that would communicate her gratitude. Actions, though, can speak louder than words, right? 

“Well, shoot,” She looked over to the dinner table, which was still wet from being wiped down, “I’d send you home with some leftovers if I hadn’t just cleaned them all up. There’s got to be something…”

“That’s not really necessary! I mean, they were our friends too…” Hero started, but Polly was already gone, off to find… something in the house. 

“Hey, I’m not gonna turn down anyone’s thanks! We did a good job today!” Kel continued to beam, lighting up the room.

“Kel! You shouldn’t expect charity from people who were just asking a favor! Besides, Polly’s been through a lot too… I wonder if she’s even told Basil’s parents yet…” Aubrey frowned.

Kel opened his mouth to reply, but couldn’t get any words out before Polly re-entered the room. She was holding two twenty dollar bills out for Kel to take. Before Aubrey and Hero had a chance to lecture him for it, he took them, a thankful grin on his face the whole time.

“Now that I have these pictures, we can finally put better posters up… Putting up those last ones was doing the bare minimum. I knew I needed to do something more, but… I didn’t know how.” Polly smiled sadly. 

“That’s what we’re here for, Polly! We’ve all gotta work together and do our part to find them, right guys?” Hero looked over his shoulder at the two younger kids, who’d moved to be standing behind him. 

“Of course!” Aubrey practically spat the words out, a fire in her eyes. 

“You already know you’ve got me!” Kel replied, with Kel-like optimism. 

“Could I ask another favor of you kids for tomorrow?” Polly seemed hesitant to ask something more so soon. “I’m going to need help finding good spots for all these outside of town in the afternoon. I’ll make copies of them all in the morning, so you’d all be free to do whatever you like until then.” 

“That sounds like a good plan to me! It’ll give us a chance to get out of town for a while, and to look for them, all at the same time.” Hero added. 

“For now, though… I need to check up on Basil’s grandmother. It’s getting dark, so you all should get home soon.” Polly glanced sideways at the skyline through the window. “There’ll be plenty of time to come up with the next step tomorrow.”

“Thank you for your help, Miss Polly!” Aubrey hugged her plush toy tight, heading towards the door. Kel was quick to follow, waving as the two prepared to leave. 

“We’ll come back around the same time I arrived earlier today, if that’s alright.” Hero nodded, before joining them. 

“See you kids later. Stay safe on your way home, alright?” Polly slowly shut the door behind them after she’d seen them off a short distance.

“Well, that went smoothly, I’d say.” Hero led the group, the three walking in essentially a single-file line. 

“It must be hard for her and Basil’s grandma… living there all alone without any idea where he went.” Aubrey furrowed her brow. “All the more reason that we need to find them fast!” 

“They have to be out there somewhere…” Kel gazed into the treeline as he walked. “It’s been a month, though. They could be really far away, by now.”

“It’ll be alright… even if they are somewhere even out of state, or out of country, I’m sure they’re doing alright for themselves.” Hero paused, remembering his friends’ faces, and more importantly, their talents. “Basil knows how to grow food, and Sunny being there to help out if need be is probably a big plus for them in a lot of different ways.” Hero waited a moment, mulling over his words another time.

“Yeah. I’m sure that wherever they are… they’re probably doing just fine. That’s what I’d like to believe, anyway.” 

And so, they stumbled their way back to their homes, before turning in for the night. Tomorrow would be another busy day, after all. 


	6. push and shove

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunny and Basil have an unfortunate run-in with a stranger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I assure you wholeheartedly that the chapter named “swirly 1000x” will be one of the angstiest chapters in this fic. I don’t know when it’ll come in the story yet, but it will happen. 
> 
> Also, unrelated, but thank you all for your patience in the time between chapters. One week really flies by when you’ve got something to work on, and it can really get to be a lot when life gets in the way. I’m gonna keep doing my absolute best, and hopefully it shows.

It didn’t take long after sunset for Sunny and Basil to get back on the road. Staying in one place for too long was dangerous enough as is, but especially so in broad daylight. Daylight wasn’t entirely a bad thing, though, as it meant they were usually safe from the things that kept creeping up in the corners of their eyes, at least for a while. 

They bid the isolated grove adieu and found their way through a four-way intersection. They picked a direction out of the three at random and just kept walking, ignoring the cars rushing beside them (only after, of course, waiting for their turn to walk and looking both ways.)

The silence between them was occupied instead by the sounds of buzzing insects and stalling traffic, and Sunny was content with that. Basil, however, seemed not to be, tugging on Sunny’s sleeve lightly as he trailed behind. 

“Sunny, I just wanted to ask… since you’re speaking again, do you think we’ll need to get more water? Or just get stuff to drink more often? Your throat might end up getting sore if you use it too much after so long of not talking at all.” He asked, shooing a gnat out of his face. 

“Well, maybe.” Sunny kept his eyes on the sidewalk, trying to count in his head how many more steps he’d need to take to get to the next turn. “Or you can just drink less. That way, I get whatever’s left.” 

“You... you don’t actually mean that, Sunny! ...Right?” Basil forced a smile, anxiously laughing at something he couldn’t quite tell was a joke. “I mean, we already don’t get very much as is, so if either of us got even less, then that’d be really bad!” 

“I’ll make sure we both get enough to live.” Sunny kept walking. He didn’t mean to be dismissive, and he probably didn’t realize that he was being so, but Basil certainly noticed, opting to quietly follow behind him instead of continuing the conversation. 

Coming out of the intersection, they found their way past a small shopping center, complete with a busy parking lot. Maybe it’s a weekend - Sunny thought - if it was a weekday, most people would be at work right now. That was something of an issue - strangers were what ended up causing the biggest problems, considering that Sunny had fought off kidnappers and rowdy teenagers alike, just a month into their endeavor. 

Did that make the weekends problems, too? If the people who only had free time on the weekends attacked them on those days in particular? Or, would it be an instance of correlation, not causati-

He hears tires screeching. He feels himself being pulled backwards, and hard. 

“SUNNY!” Basil’s hands tugged hard at the back of his shirt, knocking him out of his stupor, and almost flat onto his back. “You almost just walked into traffic!”

Sunny stumbled backwards onto the sidewalk. Only then did he begin to hear the loud honking of a nearby car - the one that had almost turned him into paste - as it whizzed past. Of course they were speeding… it was either a miracle or a curse that he hadn’t been killed. They had to have been going what, anywhere from fifty to seventy miles an hour? 

To add insult to injury, as Sunny dusted himself off and collected himself, the car that had almost hit him screeched to a stop off in the distance, pulling off to the side of the road. Basil watched as the driver’s side door swung open, and out stepped a girl who looked just a few years older than them. She’d probably just gotten her license.

Sunny had turned away from the road, blocking out any sounds that came from it purposefully to ground himself in what he could see. As the girl ran over to them worriedly, he looked back, and for the second time in his life, regretted it. 

She looks down at Sunny, and she looks him in the eye. Through long black hair that shadows her face, she looks him in the eye. The look in her eyes is apologetic. 

Sunny panics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this case, it’s more like “push and pull” than “push and shove,” but hey, it works.


	7. something, alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “There is no greater sorrow than to recall happiness in times of misery.”  
> \- Dante Alighieri

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is going to hurt. I’m sorry. 
> 
> Also, sorry for the semi-fake-deep quote for the summary. I just felt it fit well.

Sunny’s favorite mornings were the times he woke up to a house full of his friends. After long sleepover nights, study sessions that dragged on for much too long… any night preceding it was fine, as long as he’d get to see his friends’ smiling faces in the dining room while Mari and Hero made their favorite foods for breakfast. 

He would always stagger down the stairs, the last to wake up. Kel would noisily announce his presence, daring Sunny to get to the bacon tray before he could. Hero would grin, and tell his little brother to leave some for everyone else. Mari would flip pancakes with grace, and Aubrey would watch in awe, while Basil grinned and did everything in his power to find a good opening for a photo. 

The sunlight would stream in through the kitchen window, and he’d look at all his friends’ smiling faces, and they would have a good day together.

It was only now that his circumstances began to truly settle upon his shoulders. He would never see those ideal, beautiful, shining mornings again. Those bright smiles were buried in time, never to resurface. Mari was dead, but... he was staring her right in the face, wasn’t he? 

Her mouth was moving, but no sound came out. Basil held tightly onto his sleeve with sweaty hands, panicking, shaking Sunny and urging him to run away. Yet Sunny couldn’t run - he could hardly even move. 

Sunny does the one thing that works best for him in situations like this: he blacks out. At least in White Space, he’ll be spared, just for a little bit… 

Basil catches him as his body falls backwards, nearly colliding with the sidewalk. It’s clumsy and uncomfortable, and the girl looks like she thinks she’s just killed him. It’s the most scared Basil’s ever seen someone before, besides himself and Sunny. She shouts apology after apology and asks if she should call an ambulance, which Basil shoots down without a second thought. With that, she apologizes and says she has somewhere she needs to be, retreating back to her car and speeding away. 

It takes everything Basil has to not shout at her car in tearful anger as she drives off. He watches her until she’s out of sight, when he suddenly remembers that he’s standing not far from a crowded area, and that he needs to get both Sunny and himself the hell out of there. People are staring from down the street, drivers are watching through their windows, and Basil is stressed out. 

“Sunny just… needs to rest for a while. It’ll be okay! It’ll be okay, it’ll be okay.” Basil whispers to himself. He holds on to Sunny’s unconscious body, picking him up in a bridal-style carry. He continues walking down the sidewalk, praying that nobody asks any questions, or recognizes them, or even calls the police.

Basil walks for at least a half an hour, eventually wandering into a quiet suburb. His feet hurt, Sunny’s still out cold, he’s lost all sense of direction, and he so badly wants to tell himself that things couldn’t possibly get worse, but he knows saying that would be a lie. Of course Sunny would pass out when he’s needed most, but Basil couldn’t blame him for that - Sunny is a good person, top to bottom. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. He’s probably fighting to wake up just as hard as Basil is fighting to keep them both safe! 

He hears voices coming from further down the street. They’re familiar, and it sends an icy chill down his spine. He looks up slowly… and his suspicions are confirmed. It’s Polly, Hero, Kel, and Aubrey, taping something to a telephone pole. Kel turns to Hero and laughs at some joke he just made, before his eyes settle on Basil and recognition slowly creeps across his face. 

Kel’s eyes go wide and he grabs Hero’s sleeve, which is when Polly and Aubrey join them in their onlooking. Kel takes off towards them down the sidewalk. Basil’s fast, but he’s not jock fast, and he knows it. That doesn’t stop him from turning around and sprinting off, with Sunny in his arms and Kel hot on his heels. 

The sun feels scorching hot and his arms feel heavy. The sounds of frantic footfalls, one after the other, continue to fill the air as the distance between Basil and Kel shrinks. God, why did Kel have to be the fastest person in Faraway Town? This was the most inopportune thing that possibly could have happened. They’d be caught, and dragged back home, and made to tell the truth about what happened that day, and for Sunny’s sake, he couldn’t let that happen. 

Basil didn’t waste time even glancing backwards. The footfalls that had once been creeping up close behind him slowly began to die out. Why was Kel… slowing down? Was he giving up? He wouldn’t, especially not when so much is at stake, and when Hero and Aubrey are right behind him. That’s just not like him! But the distance that was growing between the two of them was no illusion - Kel had stopped chasing them. Basil’s sprint didn’t falter, though, as he spared one glance back. 

Kel’s hand, outstretched to reach nothing, sadness in his eyes… That wasn’t a sight Basil would forget easily. Not when he knew he was the cause of it. He’d already hurt his friends so much, after all… maybe that’s all that he was really good for. 

Basil continued sprinting, on and on, far out of sight of his old friends. For once, he felt remorse about his decisions, despite how much he understood his and Sunny’s motives. This little romp of theirs no longer held any passion or purpose. It was just aimless wandering, lost in a world without Mari, and everything Basil had done today only helped perpetuate the cycle. 

“Sunny… please wake up.” 


End file.
